Tinnitus is a form of ringing in the ears. People hear sounds such as rustling, beeping or whistling. But no one can hear these sounds except themselves. Approximately two million Dutch people have tinnitus. Ten percent of them are very bothered by it and in several tens of thousands of people the complaints are so bad that it causes psychosocial problems.
Tinnitus can be the result of prolonged exposure to (too much) noise, but also of abnormalities in the hearing organ, the brain or the jaw joint.